In a comparative analysis the performance and capacity of DECT, PACS, and PHS for wireless local loop applications have been investigated. This article reports the results of both qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative evaluation consists of a detailed comparison of the parameters of each standard and their relevance in WLL applications. In the quantitative analysis detailed simula...
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This article provides an introduction to Internet accounting and discusses the status of related work within the IETF and IRTF, as well as certain research projects. Internet accounting is different from accounting in POTS. To understand Internet accounting, it is important to answer questions like “what is being paid for” and “who is being paid”. With respect to the questi...
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The efficient management of a quality level of Internet service is becoming increasingly important to both customers and service providers. This article describes how service level agreements for multimedia Internet service can be managed and controlled. We first present a literature survey on the problems of SLA management: SLA parameter definition, SLA measurement, and QoS management. We present...
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New emerging IP services based on differentiated services and the IP security architecture offer the level of communication support that corporate Internet applications need nowadays. However, these services add an additional degree of complexity to IP networks which will require sophisticated management support. The management of enhanced IP services for their customers is thus an emerging import...
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Using fundamental physical and information theoretical relations, we have considered fundamental capacity limits and possibilities of fiber optical, cellular radio, and satellite communication systems. In a fiber to the home scenario more than 1 Gb/s equivalent circuit-switched capacity may well be feasible in the future. In a microwave cellular or satellite radio network for mobile subscribers it...
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Different technologies for subscriber access are put side by side. Starting from the various transmission media characteristics of all systems, the well-known twisted pair lines with their corresponding digital subscriber line services are evaluated against wireless local loops, communications over ubiquitous power lines, high-bandwidth cable modems, and mobile radio. Each technology has its advan...
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As the Internet evolves toward the global multiservice network of the future, a key consideration is support for services with guaranteed quality of service. The proposed differentiated services framework is seen as the key technology to achieve this. DiffServ currently concentrates on control/data plane mechanisms to support QoS, but also recognizes the need for management plane aspects through t...
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The Internet Engineering Task Force works on standardization of Internet related protocols. The work is divided into various areas. One of the areas is operations and management. This article provides first a summary of the areas that exist within the IETF and then describes in some detail the tasks for each of the Working Groups (WGs) in the operations and management area
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The introduction of resale-based competition in international direct dialing services in January 1999 triggered a round of extremely fierce competition in Hong Kong's IDD market. In response, both the incumbent operator and new entrants had to adopt aggressive strategies to defend or gain market share. This article reports on an intensive experiment on IDD quality provided by the major IDD operato...
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LMDS is currently a promising emerging technology in broadband fixed wireless communications. The cellular structure, high data rates, and flexibility make it perfect for multimedia, digital television, and interactive services. These high-bandwidth multimedia services received most of the research attention until lately. There has been a clear gap when considering UDP/TCP/IP and other data servic...
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Introducing quality of service features to the IP/TCP protocol suite has become a hot topic of research in both industry and academia. Several architectures have been proposed for QoS support at the network layer (layer 3 in the OSI model). Both integrated services and differentiated services architectures are examples of QoS models that are implementable at the IP layer. Another development at th...
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At the end of 1999, the ITU-T completed the first edition of the Bearer-Independent Call Control (BICC) protocol, just nine months after the start of this activity. The development of BICC can be considered historic. For the first time a full-fledged operator-grade PSTN/ISDN service can be offered over a variety of packet networks, using only standardized protocols. This tutorial explains the BICC...
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IthACI has been a European project in the ACTS framework concentrating on fast layer 2 forwarding methods for IP traffic based on labeled flow mechanisms. The approach is also known as IP switching and is considered promising for enhancing IP performance. Several flavors of IP switching have been proposed by various vendors (e.g., IP switching by Ipsilon, Tag Switching by Cisco, ARIS by IBM, IPSOF...
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IEEE Communications Magazine, considered by most to be their most important member benefit, provides timely information on all aspects of communications: monthly feature articles describe technology, systems, services, market trends, development methods, regulatory and policy issues, and significant global events.